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Don’t throw away your old mobile phone! Through our partner, Fonebak, we recycle or re-use every unwanted mobile phone. Fonebak sends the phones to emerging markets in developing countries and donates £5 to us for every phone received.

All you have to do is place your unwanted phone in an envelope and address it to:

FREEPOST Fonebak
FFI

It's that simple - and it's free.

To find out more about Fonebak and the work that is supported by the scheme or to order special Fauna & Flora International/Fonebak recycling bags to give away at events and promotions, please contact Jack Foxall at jack.foxall@fauna-flora.org or call +44 (0)1223 571000.

Why recycle?

77% of the UK population has at least one mobile phone and these are replaced approximately every 18 months. In the UK alone over 15 million people replace their phones every year.

If these were all thrown away it would generate 7,500 tonnes of potentially harmful landfill. Phones contain precious metals and materials that can be hazardous when they degrade.

Re-using old mobile phones has social as well as environmental benefits, Research has shown that the high cost of handsets is the single largest barrier to mobile phone use in developing countries. Old mobile phones can help close the digital divide. The low cost of these recycled handsets means they can have a very useful second life in poorer nations.

Phone facts

• Every hour, 1712 mobile phones are replaced in the UK;
• The cadmium from one mobile phone battery is enough to pollute 600,000 litres of water, which would fill 1/3 of an Olympic sized swimming pool;
• If all the mobile users in the UK threw away their old mobile phones when they upgraded, there would be £650,000 worth of silver sent to landfill a year;
• There are an estimated 1.75 billion mobile phones in circulation in the world and 45 million in the UK alone;
• Through Fonebak, the six million phones collected to date have diverted some 6000 tonnes of potentially harmful landfill.